2020 Bregenz Festival cancelled

Bregenz, 15.5.20. This year’s Bregenz Festival has been cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. A consolation for festival fans is that the hugely popular production of Rigoletto will be returning to the lake stage in summer 2021. 

In response to the directives presented today by the Austrian federal government as well as the measures already in place, the 2020 season of the Bregenz Festival will not be going ahead. Until 1 July stage events are authorised if they have no more than 250 attendees. Thereafter until 1 August, up to 500 or 1,000 attendees are permitted, depending on the safety measures, as health minister Rudolf Anschober explained.

“With a heavy heart we are bearing together the decision that has been taken. And we’ve been supported by the prospect of a fabulous festival in the summer of 2021,” said the festival’s artistic director Elisabeth Sobotka.

Tickets easily exchangeable for 2021 
The Bregenz Festival has adopted a convenient returns policy for people who have bought tickets for this year’s events. They can either exchange them for tickets to the 2021 festival or for a voucher, or the ticket holder can claim a full refund. A further option is to donate the ticket value to the Bregenz Festival. For all four options a simple and convenient procedure is provided by the festival website. The returns period commences on Monday 18 May 2020 and ends on 31 October 2020. 

Nero to open next year’s festivalRigoletto begins its second run on the lake stage on 22 July 2021. Twenty-five further performances follow. Altogether about 190,000 tickets are available. 

Like the lake stage production, the opera in the Festspielhaus – Nero – has also been rescheduled for next summer. It will be the curtain-raiser for the 75th season of the Bregenz Festival on 21 July 2021. What other events from this season will also take place next year has yet to be decided. The complete programme for the 2021 Bregenz Festival will be announced by the autumn. Madame Butterfly, which was due to play on the lake stage in 2021/22, will now be put back to 2022/23.

“La donna è mobile” to return to the lake stage
Rigoletto was an enormous success at last year’s festival. The production, as moving as it was spectacular, was sold out – more than 180,000 people came to Bregenz to watch Giuseppe Verdi’s thrilling opera about the eponymous court jester and hear the famous aria “La donna è mobile”. The first night of the opera’s second run was due to be on 23 July. Now the opera on the Lake Constance stage has been postponed to the 2021 season. The curtain goes up for the first time on 22 July 2021, with 25 more performances scheduled.

The 2021 Bregenz Festival runs from 21 July to 22 August. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.bregenzerfestspiele.com.

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Performances of Rigoletto 
premiere, Thursday 22 July 2021
23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30 and 31 July
1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21 and 22 August 

Performances of Nero
premiere, Wednesday 21 July 2021
25 July and 2 August